One person's ramblings, can be another person's insight.
Archive for May, 2009
A President for Change
May 16th
Obama After Bush: Leading by Second Thought
The president for change was what everyone said about President Obama. He will change the way we do our business, on how things are run. A noble thought.
In April of 2009, President Obama sought additional “emergency” funding for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. He used the same tactic that he blasted President Bush for doing. Instead of going through the normal budget process, politicians can claim it is an emergency and deserves the funding now. You can read about this here.
So after reading both articles, I wonder if he is still for change, or maybe the decisions made were the right ones. Maybe, the path we were going down was the best choice.
Do We Really Need Car Dealers?
May 15th
Do We Really Need Car Dealers?
While cruising the internet I came across this article. I have seen on the local news, all of the hate articles about the moves from Chrysler and GM to cut down on the number of dealers they have. A couple of points in this article is what is missing from most articles about this subject.
One, and foremost to me, is the restructuring is being done to meet the expectations of Obama’s auto task force. So in other words, it is to comply for the bailout they are trying to get. Which also lost in the shuffle is the fact that so far Ford is not asking for help. More on that later.
The second point I saw, was an interesting spin that relates very closely to my opinion of newspapers. Is the internet changing the way we buy cars? The conclusion in the article is we still need dealers, but I am wondering if that is only a temporary thing.
The internet certainly can make a buyer more aware of trends, and can compare pricing all over the US if they want to. With that information, they can haggle more effectively for that car, thus driving down the profit of the car. So is all these closings just something that would have happened in time anyway? Another bygone era along with 8 tracks?
As for Ford, I must give it to them. They are struggling that is for sure, but the longer they hold out the better it could be for them, especially with all these dealers closing. If I was in the market for a new car I would buy a Ford, not because I love the car, but because the bailout is tainting the other two.
Who would want to buy a car from a company that is closing dealerships, reducing brands, and in general is giving signs of being in severe distress. Ford may be just as strapped, and if they can hold on I think they will benefit greatly as people will feel safer buying a car from a Ford dealer over one of the other guys. Who knows, maybe in the future there will be only one of the big three left.
Congress explores how to help save newspapers
May 6th
Congress explores how to help save newspapers
Here we go, another waste of tax payers money. Why are newspapers failing? Well let’s see, I can go to Google News and get my news when I want it, and in 90% of the time before it has time to printed in my local newspaper.
“Newspapers and broadcasters have been a check on the excesses of government, business and individuals,” said Sen. Jay Rockefeller, D-W.Va. “But what happens when our watchdog grows mute and can no longer bark? When newspapers slice their staff and slash their news operations? What happens is that we all suffer. … The inevitable result is less reporting, less news, and less coverage of our communities and interests at home and abroad.”
Well as for this statement, though the first part is true, the second part is so far from the truth.
I think now with so many cable channels, and websites vying for the news that we have more than we can handle. The death of the printed newspaper is just a change in the times, just like 8 Tracks, and cassette tapes.
Times change. Why should the tax payers support an industry that will eventually die off anyway. It is not being removed, it is being replaced.
“Despite the 24/7 availability of news from print, broadcast and digital sources, there remains one clear fact: When it comes to original in-depth reporting that records and exposes actions, issues, and opportunities, nothing has replaced a newspaper,” Sen. Benjamin Cardin, D-Md., told a Senate Commerce Communications subcommittee.
Well I highly disagree with the above statement, at least with my experience of news papers. Most of the time they just say the same thing that is being said elsewhere in either local news be it website or broadcast. In fact I have seen more breaking stories on the internet then in print for some time.
I know for those that are working in the industry it is hard to accept, but it is time to let it take it’s natural course.
Bottles of water will be our undoing…
May 5th
Statehouses target bottled water to reduce waste
Oh my, we must hurry!!! The fury of bottled water is going to ruin this great nation!! Drinking the water and discarding the left over bottles will destroy us all.
Rice: Bush wouldn’t approve illegal interrogations
May 4th
Rice: Bush wouldn’t approve illegal interrogations
Is the headline on CNNPolitics.com. I personally believe that to be true. I do not believe any president of the United States would stick their neck out there unless they knew they had some ground to stand on. At least any president in the last few decades.
George Bush, said it was a war on that night shortly after the 9/11 attacks, and unfortunately when at war, ugly things need to get done. Is this “torture” tactics as bad recording beheadings of non military personnel and broadcasting it on TV? Is waterboarding worse than strapping a bomb to a 17 year old boy that has been brainwashed to believe that this act will send him to heaven?
President Bush did seek legal advice, and the advise he received said it was alright. Now I am no expert in Law, or do I even try to say that I understand the pain or stress these tortures can cause, but everything was done right. No one hid the fact, or tried to cover it up.
I guess the question is, did it work? Did it yield enough information to prevent another attack on American soil? We may never know the answer this.
Does that justify the action? Does anything justify the action? More questions we may never get an answer too.
One thing is for sure, you can bet that the terrorists bank on us, and have taken advantage of, our nature to be a free society. This even extends to the enemy combatants. Our freedoms have made us great, and greatest weakness can be our downfall if taken too far. A war cannot be won if we are not in it to win.
Bottom line for me is, I do not know if the torture techniques were successful, it could be they were at the time when our nation was very scared, and it could be time to move on. I think we need to do just that, move on. Nothing evil was done here, maybe it was a mistake, maybe it wasn’t, but so far there is no smoking gun.
Been a while…
May 3rd
Wow, it is amazing how fast time flies. No matter how much you may plan your life, no matter how many to do lists you have, no matter how slow or how fast your life is, time seems to just get away like a speeding car.